Communication Over Ethernet - Matrox Indio Installation And Hardware Reference

58 Chapter 4: Matrox Indio hardware reference

Communication over Ethernet

Matrox Indio has a Gigabit Ethernet network interface that has built-in power
over Ethernet (PoE) support. The interface is controlled using the Intel i210
Gigabit Ethernet controller.
Although you can use the network interface for general purpose, Gigabit network
communication, the interface is intended for grabbing from a GigE
Vision-compatible camera
example, a PLC) using the PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, or Modbus industrial
protocol. For communication using the PROFINET protocol, Matrox Indio has
a PROFINET engine; if the engine is enabled (using MILConfig), it provides a
hardware-assisted PROFINET interface that supports a minimum I/O cycle time
of 1 msec, as opposed to the software-only PROFINET interface that supports a
minimum I/O cycle time of 16 msec.
When communicating with an external device using an industrial protocol and
your process relies on a specific response time, it is not recommended to use the
network interface also for grabbing or general network traffic, unless using the
hardware-assisted PROFINET interface. The LAN connection associated with
the hardware-assisted PROFINET interface can be shared with other Ethernet
traffic. This is possible because the LAN connection, used to allow PROFINET
communication to occur, will instantiate a second Ethernet communication device
with its own MAC and IP settings; these settings are distinct from those of the
main Ethernet communication interface, available generally to the operating
system. The two Ethernet communication channels can be represented as follows.
1. Unlike when using other Matrox imaging boards, image acquisition with Matrox
Indio is made possible because the operating system recognizes the GigE Ethernet net-
work interface as another network port. So when you allocate a MIL GigE Vision sys-
tem (using MIL or one of its derivatives), you can grab from GigE Vision-compatible
devices connected to the Gigabit Ethernet network interface. For all other functional-
ity on the board, you must allocate a MIL Matrox Indio system. Matrox Capture
Assistant can allocate and interface with a MIL GigE Vision system, and not with a
MIL Matrox Indio system. Refer to MIL documentation for more information.
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, or for communicating with external devices (for